Thaw
by Sh1 n0 m1k0
Summary: It was so cold.


**Thaw**

It was so cold.

Ruto shivered and curled tighter into herself, attempting to glean whatever warmth she could from her slowly freezing limbs. Her teeth chattered wildly as she breathed uselessly into her hands, praying to whichever goddess was was listening to be delivered from her frozen hell. She knew she couldn't stay in one place for long for fear of capture, but by the goddesses, it was so cold!

She was all that was left. The rest of her people had become one with the very ice she walked on. Ruto often wondered if her exclusion was a blessing or a curse. On one hand, she was not trapped for an undisclosed period of time, as were the others, but on the other hand, she was left alone to freeze to death in a horrid little cave tucked far away in the back of Zora's Domain. Her tears had long dried, or frozen, as the numbness seeped into her body and mind.

Dimly, the Zoran Princess noted how the cold was beginning to take a deeper hold the longer she sat in her little corner, shaking wildly. She needed to move. Her near useless limbs were sluggish as she forced them to work, unsteadily pushing herself to her feet. Her bare feet burned against the icy ground. Ruto began totter around the small room in an attempt to keep her blood moving to produce the heat she so desperately needed to survive. She coughed.

This was all Ganondorf's doing, she absently thought as she concentrated on keeping her feet underneath her. His evil had been perverting the land ever since he killed the rightful King and took up the mantle as the Dark King. The portals to and from Lake Hylia disappeared and Zora's Domain began to cool at an alarming rate. The fish began to die as ice formed, against all reason, and grew thicker and thicker as time passed. A few courageous village guards would make the journey to provide what few supplies that Kakariko could spare, and for that, Ruto was forever grateful. Unfortunately, it just wasn't enough in the end. The growing cold forced the Zora's back into the cave near Jabu-Jabu's courtyard until the ice finally took them all, as well. All except for one.

The last of the Zoras continued to clumsily make laps along the walls, hugging herself tightly. It seemed that nothing she did helped to create the warmth that she wanted. It was only a matter of time before her legs could no longer support her and she felt to the icy ground, curling up into a ball to conserve the little body heat she still contained.

'_So this is how it ends'_ she thought bitterly, '_And here I was under the impression that Hell was supposed to be hot.'_

She lay shivering for hours, watching the small clouds of condensation her breathing created, unable to summon the strength to move once more. It was so cold. So cold. And she was so tired. Her eyelids began to droop alarmingly as exhaustion took hold. Maybe if she just took a small nap... She had been awake for so long...

As Ruto's world descended into darkness, the sensation of being lifted and carried dully occurred to her before she let herself fall into unconscious bliss.

o

Something stank.

Her nose wrinkled. Whatever it was, it smelled _terrible_. She groaned and rolled over to her other side. It still smelled horrible. And now it was itching. She squirmed. A light masculine chuckle was heard to her right and her eyes immediately shot open.

"Relax. You are safe here."

She struggled to sit upright and noticed the small campfire that was blazing merrily before her. Someone had wrapped a thick horse blanket around her. A small sniff revealed that it was what reeked so terribly. Across from the fire, a dark figure sat leaning against a tree. It was peeling something she couldn't make out from its place in the shadows with a wicked looking knife. Then she realized it.

She was warm.

The sensation was mind-blowing. If it hadn't been for the itching of the confounded blanket, she would have guessed that she was dead. It had been so long...

"How are you feeling?"

Ruto considered the question thoughtfully, taking into account everything that had happened in the last few months. How _did_ she feel? She was currently in the company of a stranger (who had apparently saved her life) in a place that she didn't recognize while her people were _dying_ and all she could think about was how absolutely wonderful it was to see a fire burning and giving off such delightful warmth that she could feel sinking deep down into her very bones. The shadowy man reached across the fire, offering her what appeared to be a piece of apple. She accepted eagerly.

"I feel..." She began before biting into the bit of fruit. It was the most perfect moment of her life, she decided. That little slice of apple was firm and sweet and juicy and everything that Ruto could ever want, considering that weeks or hours or minutes or seconds (how long had it been, anyway?) she had been starving along with the rest of her people in a godforsaken corner of a cursed kingdom. She smiled contentedly, "I feel much better."

The boy chuckled again and continued to slice another piece off the apple, "Good."

"Who are you, anyway?"

He hesitated only for a moment before reaching over with another bite of fruit, "You may call me Sheik."

"Sheik...," She murmured, testing the name as she took his offering, nibbling delicately at its white flesh, "I've never heard of a name like that before."

"You could say that I'm one of a kind."

Ruto shivered and pulled the stinking blanket tighter around her shoulders, watching the fire. They sat in silence, save for the crackle of burning wood and the calls of nocturnal creatures. The quiet began to weigh down on her and she sought to break it.

"You saved my life."

"It appears that I did, yes."

"Well, I um.." She flushed, "Thank you."

"You are welcome."

The boy was definitely _not_ a conversationalist, she decided as she watched him eat his share of the apple and wipe the knife off on the grass next to him. Ruto readjusted the blanket and watched the fire. She had to get back to Zora's Domain and free her people somehow, and she was pretty sure that this "Sheik" character wasn't going to be particularly amenable to the idea. His voice startled her.

"Get some sleep. It's going to be a long day."

"Why? What's going to happen?"

He stretched his legs out in front of him, "We are going to Lake Hylia."

Ruto's brow furrowed, "Lake Hylia? Why?"

"You must go to the Water Temple."

"But I don't understand!"

"The Hero is coming soon."

Her breath caught, "W-What do you mean?"

"The Dark King's reign is coming to an end, Princess. Surely you have felt the change on the wind."

It wasn't until that moment that she did. It was a small change, really, and her time in the frozen realm of Zora's Domain had numbed her senses of such things. But the air seemed fresher – the night clearer.

And the fire was oh-so-warm.

She settled back into the blanket, the smell not as cumbersome as it was before, "But... what of my people?"

Sheik took a deep breath, and released it slowly, choosing his words carefully, "They will be released in time. But only if the Hero survives," His red eyes burned, "And to do that, you must help him, Sage of Water."

A chill went down her spine and a sick feeling settled in her stomach, "Things are never going to be the same, are they?" She mumbled quietly, watching the coals burn red.

"No."

When Ruto finally gathered the courage to meet the blond-haired boy's gaze again, there was the fiery steel of determination behind her eyes, "Very well. Then I shall do all I can so that the waters of Zora's Domain shall flow once more."

Sheik's eyes crinkled slightly with a smile, "Good."

Ruto nodded to herself, content with her answer and terrified beyond all reason. It was for the best she told herself. It was for the best. The fire crackled one last time before collapsing into ashes.

_'Like the Dark King's reign.'_ She thought defiantly, _'It will crumble into dust. And my people will be freed.'_

o

Disclaimer: No ownies.


End file.
